David and Louise Turpin sentenced to 25 years to life for torturing and abusing children in California house of horrors

Parents from hell David and Louise Turpin were sentenced to 25 years to life. April 19, 2019. (AP)

Parents from hell David and Louise Turpin were sentenced to 25 years to life Friday after two of the dozen kids they abused and held captive in their “house of horrors” spoke publicly for the first time.

Their eldest daughter, 30, stood bravely at a court podium in Riverside, Calif., and tearfully described her new life of freedom after she was rescued last year. She was severely malnourished and had a third grade education.

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“My parents took my whole life from me, but now I’m taking my life back. I’m in college now and living independently. I love hanging out with my friends and life is great,” she said while wearing a clean white shirt under a blue cardigan, her long brown hair pulled back in a neat ponytail.

“Life may have been bad, but it made me strong. I fought to become the person I am. I saw my dad change my mom. It almost changed me. But I realized what was happening. I immediately did what I could to not become like them. I’m a fighter. I’m strong,” she said.

Her younger brother Joshua, 27, broke down and needed a minute to compose himself as he read a statement from their younger sister Jessica saying she still loved her parents even though their actions were not "the best way of raising us.”

Dressed in a gray shirt and black tie, Joshua told the court he’s now pursuing a bachelor’s degree in software engineering while living in an apartment. Over the last year, he’s learned to ride a bike, swim, “prepare a balanced meal” and manage money “wisely," he said.

“I cannot describe in words what we went through growing up. Sometimes I still have nightmares (about) things that have happened, such as my siblings being chained up,” he explained.

“But that is the past and this is now. I love my parents and have forgiven them for a lot of the things they did to us,” he added.

Another adult daughter, Joy, submitted a letter read to the court in her absence. She said her parents’ situation became “more and more overwhelming” through the years, but they trusted in God, and she still loves them.

“I remember our mother sitting in her recliner and crying, saying she don’t know what to do. She didn’t want to use rope or chain, but she was afraid her children were taking in too much sugar and caffeine,” she wrote.

“The reason our parents didn’t stop buying the soda was because father needed it for work. He would fall asleep driving and got in an accident,” the daughter, who investigators say was 20 pounds underweight when she was rescued, wrote.

When it was the parents’ turn to speak, David burst into tears and asked his lawyer to read his statement. He later jumped in and finished it himself.

“I am so proud of each and every one of my children,” he said. “I miss all of my children, and I will be praying for them. I long for the opportunity to have contact with them again.”

Riverside County Judge Bernard Schwartz then issued his sentence and said that should the couple’s 13 children — now aged 3 to 30 years old — come to “thrive” in their lives, it will be “not because of you both, but in spite of you both.”

The parents took plea deals in February and were each convicted of a single count of torture, six counts of dependent adult abuse, three counts of child endangerment and four counts of false imprisonment.

The Turpins were arrested in January 2018 after their 17-year-old daughter jumped out a window of their fetid home in Perris, Calif., and used a discarded cell phone to call the only number it could, 911.

“Sometimes I wake up and I can’t breathe because of how dirty the house is. We never take baths,” she said in the harrowing 911 call played for the court in June, her voice sounding like that of a little girl.

She said the chains used to punish her sisters left them despondent.

“They will wake up at night, and they will cry, and they wanted me to call someone,” she said. “I wanted to call someone so y’all could help my sisters.”